Great OP. Not much to add. I think the observation about the Anfield crowd is spot on. It's one thing to be loud, but it's another thing for the crowd to be loud and reactive to every situation. I think it affected Tuchel's decision-making toward the end. He should have been much more aggressive with his subs, and probably should have made them after Coutinho scored. As soon as Sakho scored, Dortmund suddenly seemed desperate and a little shocked, and Tuchel's two subs were too late at that point. He needed to manage the crowd as much as he needed to manage his own team, but he didn't quite get it right and it cost him.

I find the idea of the 'cheerleader' Dortmund fan with his megaphone and back to the pitch absolutely bonkers. How can he enjoy the game? I'd like to have seen how he reacted when Lovren scored! Agree that this sort of choreographed support might be counterproductive.

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"He’s not so much a player I can really take responsibility for. I’d have to share the responsibility for Joe, less so than for people like [Christian] Poulsen, [Raul] Meireles and [Paul] Konchesky, who are players I was quite happy to bring to the club."

Roy feeling justifiably smug about the powerhouses he snatched from under the noses of Barca

Have to disagree.....between the Sakho and Lovren goals Dortmund managed the game well with the tide of urgency against them...the feeling that they would not score again, but still they kept the flow well away from the Kop end......as a fan we must have all expected that 1 good chance will come......as it ticked 90 minutes where was it? Sakho's goal had long passed....where was the kitchen sink?

I agree with this. Maybe I was caught up in the intensity of the game but I thought to myself as we entered injury time that it was a little disappointing that we hadn't really got at Dortmund after Sakho's equaliser. I might have to look at that period again but i too felt that Dortmund we're dealing with the situation well and channelling most of the activity into our half of the field rather than theirs. I consoled myself with two thoughts, one was that it showed how good the side that we had more than matched over two legs, is and the other that there's four minutes left and it only takes a second to score a goal.

The result nearly almost drives the narrative nowadays. Dortmund won the first half so they were outclassing us, we won the second half so we had steamrolled them into submission. In reality football is seldom that simple. Klopp acknowledged we were a little lucky to score so near the end. He may have been referencing the timing of the goal but he could just as easily have been alluding to the fact that, apart from a belief borne from history, we didn't really look like getting the winner.

Either way though there were 180 minutes in this tie and looking at that in its totality LFC were the better team, by a fair bit. I just didn't think we definitively better in that last quarter of an hour.

A word on the skipper for the night. Yes, his corners were bad. But James Milner edged out Lovren and Emre Can for Man of the Match for me. Forget the corners and look at the quality if his crossing from open play. A lung-busting run on the right and a perfect low cross might have been converted in the first half. Then of course at the end he lengthened his stride beautifully to collect Sturridge's clever pass and float a "just fucking hit me" cross onto the head of the big Croat. And how far did Milner run (and run with purpose)? It must have been a half marathon as he went in search of space to receive the ball and support colleagues in distress. He was always there and always ready to take responsibility.

And I believe after Reus' goal, he was also instructed by Klopp to cover for Clyne. There were several times I remember that he was behind Clyne, ready to clean things up. A worthy performance of a captain, indeed.

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Whatever an education is, it should make you a unique individual, not a conformist; it should furnish you with an original spirit to tackle big challenges; it should allow you to find values to road map through life; it should make you spiritually rich, a person who loves whatever you are doing, wherever you are.

The supporters played their part, but the crucial part was that the players responded, never gave up and got what they deserved in the end. Players like Milner, Lovren, Moreno all get their fair share of criticism, but maybe with the commitment to the cause they showed on Thursday they'll finally be cut some slack.

I think for a group of players to succeed, the fans have to believe in them. Anfield believed in them on Thursday and they delivered. This is Klopp's message or subtext almost every time he gives a presser. Get behind them, forget shit corners (I was groaning with everyone else by the way) they've already happened and are more likely to happen again if we expect them.

The winning goal summed it up to perfection, brilliantly described in the OP. Sturridge working hard to maintain possession, Milner putting in a peach of a cross, Lovren rising like a Salmon to send the stadium into the kind of delirium that remains in the memory your whole life.

Just a brilliant night. We need three more similar efforts to lift a European trophy, and although our European record is a proud one, these big silver pots don't come along that often. So we cannot, must not, allow ourselves to think we're almost there. No basking in the afterglow anymore. Villarreal await. Similar levels of effort needed from all the players and the same backing and belief needed in the stands. COME ON!

First a paragraph of biting prose on Daniel to kill for - a step which incidentally some Danny fans seemed quite prepared to implement until you finally managed to persuade them to put your words into the context of the full piece you'd written on good old Danny boy!! Funny stuff.

And now a really terrific piece on what was a night to rank with any.

You do realise, of course, that you will have shamed others including myself into marking such a night with something as heartfelt.

First a paragraph of biting prose on Daniel to kill for - a step which incidentally some Danny fans seemed quite prepared to implement until you finally managed to persuade them to put your words into the context of the full piece you'd written on good old Danny boy!! Funny stuff.

And now a really terrific piece on what was a night to rank with any.

You do realise, of course, that you will have shamed others including myself into marking such a night with something as heartfelt.

And I believe after Reus' goal, he was also instructed by Klopp to cover for Clyne. There were several times I remember that he was behind Clyne, ready to clean things up. A worthy performance of a captain, indeed.

Good observation. I think you're probably right. Also, if I remember rightly the Hummels/Reus combination almost succeeded in working during the first half and but for a Clyne stretch would have done so. It was a gap that needed plugging. And I know Hummels didn't cover himself in glory defensively but he underlined once again what a potent thing it is to have a Hansen-Lawrenson-Agger type advancing with the ball from the back.

It wasn't a fluke, the kid is the real deal, I love how he holds the ball up, he is going to be a TOP player for years to come

Absolutely not a fluke. The beauty of the toe poke, as all top forwards since (the Brazilian) Ronaldo now know, is that you don't need back lift and therefore can disguise a shot, as well as release it early. Origi knew what he was doing.

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"If you want the world to love you don't discuss Middle Eastern politics" Saul Bellow.

But wouldn't it be a marvellous thing if we could bottle the brew we manufactured on Thursday night and take a healthy swig before every home game?

But then it wouldn't be so special I suppose, well you know what I mean. It was the perfect storm in a lot of ways.

Pragmatic supporters (or lazy supporters as some call them) will try to rationalize events that unfold on the pitch. These people would don't get overly emotional in thier reaction those events but there was nothing rational that happened in that second hald, nothing at all. I watched an old guy, a Liverpool supporter for 40 years or so.... he was eating a chicken tika masala in the first half and on his feet after we pulled it back to 3-3 .... he went from talking about how hybid of Origi and Sturiddge would make a world class striker... it goes without saying......

BUT that's not the point, it was like watching two different people and that's probably 90% of the Anfield crowd ........ these people need a swig or two before every home game hahaha, the rest of us are okay I think ... although I could do with a swig from time to time, as you say maybe we all could....

As for the game I felt so uncomfortable when Dortmund were awarded that freekick in the 94th minute, at the time I think what was going thur my head was.... "these fuckers are gonna score, you just know Sahin is gonna score" ........ I forget Kagawa wasn't even on the pitch for fucks sake hahaha, my head was well and truly by that time.

Well let me give you my own personal take and see if it makes it any easier to judge, bearing in mind that a lot of the stuff that happened to me I was experiencing for the first time.

****

God knows what must have gone through the poor woman’s mind as she crouched down in front of our garden gate to clean up her little Yorkie Terrier’s latest offering. Quietly minding her own business she was suddenly caught like the proverbial rabbit in the sudden dazzle of our burglar light as I burst out of our porch door and hurtled like some marauding loonie down the path towards her screaming over and over ‘we done it, we done it’.

I guess the fact that as I reached her my opening gambit was to stoop down and plant three or four juicy kisses on the top of her cowering head, before attempting a little jig with her beloved Yorkie may have eased any fears she may have harboured that I was either a] a mad robber fleeing from the house owner or b] the house owner with a pathological contempt for shitting dogs and their owners.

Whatever, loonies are loonies by any standard and so by the time, arms raised to the heavens and still demented with euphoria, I’d run forty yards down the road and returned back to our front gate, she and her little mate rather understandably were very rapidly gone, presumably to the safer arms of some street mugger further down the road. Also gone at this point as i gasped for some much needed oxygen was my uncontrollable urge to run any further and repeat my ‘we done it, we done it’ mantra. Besides there was still a few minutes of the game left.

Exhausted, I traipsed back inside to sit out the game’s closing minutes. Dortmund’s agonising last second free kick may have momentarily quelled my feelings of euphoria but any such curtailment was soon restored as the final whistle brought with it that indescribable warm inner glow that all of us who hold such deep connection with this amazing football club know only so well.

****

Four hours or so earlier I’d persuaded the missus to accompany me to the ground to welcome the team’s coach and boo the Dortmund coach.

It was the most amazing of welcoming committees.

I’d confidently say it even surpassed those of the 2014 League run-in. It had to be at least 5,000 strong, maybe more, stretched out along Anfield Road with its vibrant hub located at the road’s knuckle bend adjacent the King Harry, a resplendent, baying, seething old school Liverpudlian mass bathed in countless red smoke flares, flags and banners. It even had in its ranks one daft bugger walking up and down the steeply pitched roof of a three storey house. I presume this little act of utter madness was just to shred the nerves of everyone watching that little bit more than they already were in anticipation of the game. If ever a welcome gathering was a portent as to what was to follow then that little cameo was it – namely anything is possible no matter how crazy it might on the face of it seem to be.

Anyroad, as the blacked-out coach windows crawled past and I did precisely what I’d intended to do that evening - not having a ticket for the game as I had foolishly not ticked the box on my season ticket application, unaware as I was back then that we’d have some demented grinning German handling our affairs come the following Spring. And so gulping in untold cubic metres of the red smoke that filled the air to line my tonsils, I shouted myself hoarse whilst also I taking moment out to wink knowingly at a grinning bespectacled Kloppie. He winked back, even more knowingly.

I wish.

And so they passed. Followed a few minutes later in his own coach by the crafty German coach who had clearly been waiting with his crew behind the bushes in Stanley Park for Jurgen to show his ‘arrival hand’ first. Ha ha - didn’t do you much good in the end did it Fritz!!

And so buoyed with the knowledge that the significance of such a welcoming gesture had been cemented firmly in the minds of our manager and his players and his fellow countryman and his players, I was able to head home – still with the missus – ticketless but nonetheless reassured that those like myself not fortunate enough to be inside the ground had done all we could to ensure victory was now a mere formality.

****

So the events of Thursaday night prompted the Telegraph to complile a list which places Thursday night at 6th place in the pantheon of great Anfield European nights. It has Chelsea [2005] at numero uno, St. Etienne at number two and Inter Milan at number three. I can’t recall what it had as numbers four and five. What I did notice was the list didn’t include Celtic [1966] or indeed Juventus and Honved of the same season or Anderlecht from the previous season. There were other notable omissions too, so I’m not sure of the yardsticks applied by the list compiler in ranking all these amazing Anfield nights.

Clearly, however, there are pre-requisites for any such occasion to enter the rankings. One is the achievement of the desired victory, another is the significance of such victory, another is the nature and quality of the performance that secures the victory and the other, perhaps the most crucial of all, is the need for the victory to encompass what can only be termed a spiritual communion between players, manager and supporters.

At Anfield on any such nights of major victory most if not all these pre-requisites seem to accompany each other intrinsically with the final all so vital communion a bequeathed gift, courtesy of the peerless legacy bestowed by Shankly and his first great team.

As it is, I speak as one of the many who has been present for virtually all of the nights in question. Up until 2005 I had always awarded the Inter Milan occasion as my own particular favourite. Yet, on that Spring semi-final night in 2005 I finally gave Inter a companion at the very top. The sheer intensity of the crowd that night and the immensity of what was at stake meant the Chelsea game had for me earned equal status.

In the light of the foregoing, what I have to say now may surprise some. Yet even though I was a mere television spectator on Thursday night just past and even though this was a Quarter Final in a competition regarded as much the lesser light compared with the Champions League, the spectacle that unfolded both on and off the pitch in the Dortmund game has for me more than earned a spot at the very top of the Anfield great night pantheon.

And the defining ingredient that for me secures this place on the very top table is that you simply do not face the final 20 minutes or so of a game against truly outstanding opposition such as Borussia Dortmund requiring to score three goals and ever hope to achieve such an objective. Quite simply it is not feasible. But – and as we all now know it was a mountainous yet ultimately not insurmountable ‘but’ – if by some miracle you do happen to achieve such an objective then all bets are off as to where the procurement of that objective places such an achievement in any ranking pantheon. Not, of course, that a certain lady and her pet pooch might concur with such a take on things.

The Celtic game. Heard some increadable stories rarely mentioned. Inter, my Dads top game, told me it was better than St Ettiene which was is my top game, hot sweaty and passionate like only the old Kop could be. Chelsea, never heard it so unremittingly noisy, all seated but a wall of of noise that never dipped. Hard to seperate those two different eras both worthy winners. Dortmund never reached these heights off the pitch but is worthy of inclusion in our pantheon for the hill that we climbed. On a phone will try and explain later. Fantastic reading Timbo and Yorkie

You were correct to reference the Bruges game which is 40 years ago on the night we play in Villareal. I remember them scoring two well worked goals in the Kop end and looking just as classy as Dortmund did until three hit the back of their net in the second half.

I would like to praise our first goal which is as good a goal you will see if compared to goals worked down the middle of the pitch. There were 8 touches from Sakho, Moreno, Can, Milner, Can, Firmino, Can, Origi toe poke.

Can played wall passes to Milner and Firmino without breaking stride and it really was a knife through butter right down the centre of some very good defenders. I think Klopp was remembering this when he praised Can's performance. The goal instilled belief.

Having watched a replay of the highlights, Sturridge played a vital role in his time on the pitch. I never noticed that he tried to flick on Coutinho's corner for the equalising third but may not have touched the ball. He did disturb the concentration of the two defenders on the near post who parted to allow the ball to reach Sakho.

The fateful free kick was awarded for a push by Hummels on Sturridge who thankfully gestured for that ground pass. Just what would have happened had he not miscontrolled it but it did allow Milner that extra bit of time to get ahead to receive that nutmeg. It was all about timing and what Daniel brings to the table.

Strange goings on with the away support. As you say, it wouldn't work here. Can you imagine what would happen to a guy stood at the front of the Kop facing the hordes. Shudder to think.

Our recent loss at Southampton could be a coincidence waiting to happen. At the start of the 2000-01 season we gave away 3 late goals after leading 3-0 at The Dell. We went on to win the UEFA Cup against a Spanish side in Dortmund with a 5-4 score line. Spooky.

Edit.Just read Timbo's account. Great stuff.

Is there anyone who wasn't running or jumping after the winner. Proof was there to see behind the Kop goal!

« Last Edit: April 18, 2016, 04:59:29 PM by redtel »

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We are so fortunate to have got another great manager. We had a great manager in Rafa and collectively we fucked it up. If we'd all stood behind him there's no way the club would have found it so easy to sack him. So please, let's not fuck it up again.Alan X

WUM. 'twatito' - The Cat Herding Firm But Fair Voice Of Reason (Except when he's got a plank up his arse). Gimme some skin, priest! Has a general dislike for Elijah Wood. Clearly cannot fill even a thong! RAWK Resident Muppet. Has a crush o

And pretty soon the discussion on here got on to who should have been in the starting eleven. Sturridge instead of Origi? Allen instead of Milner or Lallana? There weren't any histrionics or toys out of the pram but still, the focus on the starting line up was there.

Still waiting for archie and fighting off people trying to nab our seats, I scribbled down the team in formation and then at the side, I made a note of the subs and thought about how Klopp would have viewed them. I put them in two categories: 'Injury' subs and 'tactical' subs. Injury subs would be there in case a player had to leave the field through injury (obviously) and tactical subs were the players that were likely to be used as part of a fourteen man game. Of course there's a crossover but this is what I wrote down:

It's a fourteen man game. I think we'll see Sturridge, Allen and possibly Ojo sometime this evening. Unless we're 3-0 up and it's about staying solid.

And then archie turned up, got a round in and we sat down to watch the match... It's fair to say that at no point apart from the wall for Gundogan's free kick in teh last seconds, was the game about 'staying solid'.

As Klopp said himself, after ten minutes the plan was in the purple bin. But we regained some composure and looked better and more stable towards half time, and three minutes after the break Origi scored his beauty.

And then they scored again... On sixty, Klopp made two subs: Allen for Lallana and Sturridge for Fimino.

The concensus is that Joe Allen was instrumental in those last thirty minutes of madness. The question then is should he have started and would the game have been radically different if he had? Was Klopp wrong with his initial team selection? As a general principle, should you always start your best eleven and be out of sight? And of course, there's the old chestnut - 'if you're fit enough to come off the bench, you're fit enough to start'.

For me, I don't think starting the team that ended the game (apart from Lucas for the injured Can) would have done anything to significantly change that initial blast of attacking power and pace from Dortmund. They were superb and unrelenting in their pressing of our midfield. Would Joe Allen, superb as he was in the last last thirty, have been able to do what he did in the full force of the first onslaught or for the full ninety minutes? Allen instead of Lallana would not have made us the superior team, or have given us control of the mid-field.

I wasn't 'stoic' or over-confident at 2-0 down, but my list of the subs before the start convinced me that Klopp had a clear idea of Thursday's game (if not every game) as a fourteen-man and a ninety-minute game. Bringing on fresh legs on 60 minutes is not unusual but the quality of the players we now have available on the bench meant that we could push on from whatever position we found ourselves in.

Origi started because he would occupy Dortmund's defence and create a threat that needed effort and concentration. He is young enough to be able to do that for ninety so having him on at the start allowed Sturridge to be added if necessary. The other way round would probably have meant Origi coming on instead of a tiring Sturridge. When Sturridge s back to full fitness the discussion may be different.

In a highly emotional and critical game like Thursday's the last phase is almost always the most critical. Teams at this stage of a European competition rarely get 'blown away' in the first phase of a game. It's difficult for even the best team to maintain full intensity for ninety minute and making sure there's something in reserve to bring on to either close out or push on is critical.

And for me, Joe Allen in reserve rather than in the first eleven was the right selection given the team we were facing. And if you put a yellow and black hat on, the evidence was there for all to see that Dortmund had 'blown us away' on ten minutes and then 'put us to bed' with Reus' goal. Once we started to come back into it there was no obvious change to close the game out and they started to get visibly nervy (in my opinion).

Of course, the injuries to Can and Henderson will force Klopp's hand in the semi-final and it will be interesting to see how that and Sturridge's continuing return to fitness shapes the line-ups in those two games.

Oh, my boys, my boys, we're at the end of an age. We live in a land of weather forecasts and breakfasts that set in. Shat on by Tories, shovelled up by Labour. And here we are, we three, perhaps the last island of beauty in the world.

Early on Dortmund looked so strong. I was really impressed with them. Thought they controlled the center and won the ball back a lot. And they showed their class going forward. Two early goals where they punished us. And honestly, I thought we were likely to go out at 0-2. Had some hope left, though. I tried to remind myself that a goal can change things. We got the goal back and at 1-2, I thought we had a real chance. That is, until they made it 1-3. Then I have to admit I thought we were out. Not because we were poor, but because Dortmund were so strong. I should have known better.

It was a fantastic comeback. One of those we'll remember for decades. Often we say that, but it's not true. In this case, it's true. It was a real pleasure to watch the team fight back. That's what a really, really good team can do. Only teams with something special can manage to make that kind of a turnaround. When we start winning titles under Klopp, I think we'll look back at this game and say this is where it started. This game will be remembered as the beginning, much like Olympiacos was for Rafa's side.

Make no mistake, this was a very good Dortmund side. To score three in the manner we did, when we needed it, is so very impressive. Every team in Europe, including the likes of Barca and Bayern at their best, would be proud of that. This win is the best indicator so far that Klopp can take this club back to where it belongs. But before we go that far, I'm just happy we got to see another great game. I just want to say "thank you, it was a pleasure" to everyone involved. This was football at its best.

I have only just recovered from the game and I feel like I have to write something to get it all of my chest. It's one of those games. I can't do it justice through speaking about it, and definitely can't do it justice by typing about it, but I've just got to do it.

Dortmund, in the first 10 minutes, were breathtakingly brilliant. They flittered and floated among each other, interchanging in a way where you almost didn't see positions. Reus would start on the left and float infield, Aubameyang would drop deep and let Kagawa play further forward, Mkhtaryan was a lot faster than you'd think his frame would allow. They nursed the ball like the brilliant Barcelona teams do, but with a frenetic pace. They suffocated us, basically.

It would be easy to bemoan the players for those first ten minutes but I'd rather just admire what Dortmund did to us. We've seen it ourselves, particularly in the 13/14 season, where we started at such an intense pace that the opposition were powerless. That's what I felt this time, Dortmund just played as good an opening 10 minutes as you will ever see.

At 1-0 down I turned to my brother next to me and said 'this could be anything.' I didn't mean 4-3 to Liverpool.

After 20 minutes I thought we came back well. We started to get in behind their defence down the flanks and we were a final touch away from getting one back but at 0-2 at HT, I just couldn't see how we could get back in to it.

Cue a piece of magic from Emre Can. His work in the middle for Origi's goal, including a pass weighted so well it could've been supplied by any of the world's best players, was sublime. The finish wasn't bad either.

And then Hummels decided to remind us how good he is on the ball. As a defender, not for me. Slow, flat-footed, cumbersome. But on the ball he is completely brilliant, and his pass for Reus' goal was magnificent. The energy and belief almost, almost, left Anfield completely at 3-1.

When Coutinho scored, and what a finish it was, it found its way back from the concourse to the stands and we believed again. We believed we could give this a real go, that perhaps the impossible might just happen, but anybody who tells you they genuinely felt confident of the outcome is a liar.

Then, inexplicably, we found something that no other football club in the land knows exists. We found 'it'. I don't know what 'it' is, but I know it doesn't exist anywhere but Anfield. We found an impossible, improbably belief. Any club can make noise, but no other club can generate an atmosphere that makes the players feel as if they simply cannot be stopped. To a man, this Dortmund side were, and are, better than Liverpool. They have some of the world's most sought after players, but they couldn't stop 'it.'

Emre Can was a collosus, James Milner kept plugging away when a lesser character would've hidden, Daniel Sturrridge provided two moments of class that only a striker from the top echelons of the game can provide, Joe Allen played like a man with a point to prove, Dejan Lovren and Mamadou Sakho simply refused to let the ball near our 18 yard box. Each and every man in a red shirt stepped up to a level that I, and maybe even they, didn't think they'd reach. We didn't play the best game of football you'll ever see, we didn't dazzle with intricate passing and sumptuous movement, but we overawed some of the best football players in the world with a sheer refusal to follow the script.

'Good effort', 'so close yet so far', 'glorious failure' - the players refused to see those headlines. They knew they had the chance to write themselves into Anfield folklore. No, we may not win the Europa League. No, some of these players may not leave a glorious legacy behind, but they all played a part in giving Anfield one of its very best European nights. For a club that has more logic-defying, magical nights than anybody else, that is some feat.

So thank you, Liverpool, Jurgen Klopp and the current squad for reminding me why this football club is different. The personnel may change, but the badge doesn't and the aura this club carries is beyond comparison.

"Every team in Europe, including the likes of Barca and Bayern at their best, would be proud of that."

I think if the likes of Barca had scored those quality and build up/finishes there would be creaming all over the globe..When you look back when Klopp took over..the lack of belief & disarray in the same players vs lets face it,an outstanding Dortmund side..Klopp deserves so much credit.

Too Right. But not because of mysticism or the unknowable, even if the suggestion comes from a classy manager like Tuchel, struggling to come to terms with what had just happened, grasping for an explanation why his excellent side had just be dumped out of Europe in the most cruel way. This was about history, hope and humanity, warts and all, and what happens when they combine with a manager who instinctively understands the power of belief in football and has the knowledge and skills to harness it and use it in such an exciting way.

I got in the ground early and it was no Chelsea 2005, that night you knew it was special the minute you walked up the steps, despite the efforts of Spion Kop 1906 and those that welcomed the team, i looked around and saw too many individuals, spectators waiting for a show. Dortmund were rehearsed with a fella on a megaphone but I was impressed. Looking around they compared well to many of our fans and despite a good show for YNWA, we were a bit stuttery as if we were going through the motions, I looked around and felt the cynicism of auld arses who've watched too many games and resent the money they have to pay to watch what they became addicted to years ago. You can over exaggerate this because after their first goal we were able to get a loud Liv-er-pool, Liv-er-pool going, an achievement theses days but by half time I felt outclassed, both on and off the field, we hadn't fallen apart but I was nagged by doubt that that they were just a bit better.

Sitting by us we have, 'The Bloke from Northampton', an eternal pessimist that moans at the team, moans at those who stand up and seems to just like moaning, at first we really hated him but over the years we've mellowed and accepted him, after all he does travel down rain or shine from Northampton and we like his son who we've watched grow up and secretly agrees with us and will join in when we try and get the atmosphere going. He turns around at half time and with a knowing smile says, 'They're some team, completely outclassed us, even if we get one back they'll just step it up a gear'. I rehearsed our normal argument for the sake of my twenty year old daughter, with me because a mate had work commitment at the last minute but I half agreed with him, both team and crowd hadn't done bad but I couldn't see the spark that could ignite a change.

But Jurgen Klopp is the real deal. No panic. He sent them out to be brave, to take chances, to believe. Without him, an individual who gets it right, there's no comeback, no glory, no crowd with total belief. He plays his part and sparks the team, who score the goals that ignite the crowd, that convince the team that they can override the odds and write the History.

Earlier on when I looked around with disdain at a crowd with a similar history to myself that had succumbed to cynicism and weren't prepared to shout like a lunatic, like they did as a kid on the Kop, who were content to be individuals rather than a seething mass, I was blinded by a fear that we'd lost our uniqueness, we'd been overtaken by a tit on a megaphone. But what I'd missed is that within these arl cynical bastards is a living history and that is what makes us unique, whether experienced or passed down, there's a collective memory of Shankly, Paisley, Ged and Rafa of coming back from the dead, of the Reds Coming up the Hill Boys, of struggling to provide the better things in life and when Klopp tapped into that gave the team belief who gave the crowd belief that in turn spurred on the team with a passion and a belief, that was up there with any of our great nights of the past.

The team and crowd fed of each other each at vital times encouraging the other. A virtuous circle of passion where you lose your individuality and become not just a part of History but you help create it. At one point, the crowd groan at a fluffed clearance from Mignolet, and Klopp turns around as if angry at a player who isn't being brave and berates the crowd, signalling the goalkeeper is one of our own and how dare we give any advantage back to Dortmund by getting on a players back, the crowd took it on the chin and responded with chants of Liverpool, rarely has a manager had the confidence to berate the crowd and rarely has a manager shown so much respect for a crowd that he made it known that their actions were effecting our team.

My daughter was ecstatic, she'd never experienced it before and now it's in her DNA, with Dortmund's last freekick I turned around and The Bloke from Northampton was standing on his seat belting out YNWA no longer an individual but part of one special seething mass all willing the ball to go wide and at the end we errupted, totally free in our emotions, The Bloke from Northampton, his son, me and my daughter hugging, dancing and singing. As one.

Wow, yorky, what a read. Cheers mate, brought back the memories from my fading brain.

At 3-3 I remember thinking, wow, this is a valliant effort, if we go out, we've gone out fighting. But we're still in the competition. At the end of it, disbelief, endless jubilation, holding back tears of joy. It was a miracle wasnt it? These miracles do seem to happen at Anfield.

Dortmund were the favourites for this competition. They showed it an all, they were sublime, though the first goal was a bit of a scamble, 2nd goal was just pure briliance, as was reus's drilled shot across goal. bastards.

Klopp changed it after Half-Time, he knew the only way to get a result in this game was to win the match. The line up was very attacking, Firmino, Origi, Lallana, Coutinho, Milner, all good attacking players. If we had Allen in there for any one of those, we would have been harder to break down as we were in that first part of the match. Allen made all the difference though, when he came on, just pure quality with everything he did, he looked quick, fresh, had the touch of God

I take my hat off to Klopp, I didnt agree with his line-up, milner was paired with Can, allen & sturridge were on the bench. As good as Milner has been in the last 3 months, he's still no Central Midfielder. Coutinho had a woeful first half, 2nd half he suddenly went TO GET the ball, rather than waiting for it. What a goal he scored too, some brilliant team play, those first 2 goals, coutinho and origi. Actually, come to think of it so was the final goal, the odd pass to sturridge who fumbled and squeezed the ball into milner to cross.

This one was for klopp though. He made anfield rock, he brought us to another level. As nice as Dortmund have been to us, as classy as Tuchel has been, it meant a lot more for us, being 8th in the league with just this competition to hopefully, boost us into the Champions League, quicker than anyone could think possible. *Fingers Crossed*.

My biggest question after this match is; How are we going to do this without Emre Can?

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Quote from: JohnWHenry

We will build and grow from within, buy prudently and cleverly and never again waste resources on inflated transfer fees and unrealistic wages. We have no fear of spending and competing with the very best but we will not overpay for players

Some cracking posts. Reading them I'm prepared to believe it's the greatest European night in our history -- simply because it came now, when we're jaded, when we're all a bit 'bloke from Northampton'. Thank your god for Jurgen Klopp.

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Jurgen Klopp: I love this city for what they did in the 27 years after Hillsborough

I'm no writer and will never pretend to be, so it's hard for me to encapsulate that game and the emotional roller coaster I went on during the 105 (including HT) or so minutes last Thursday afternoon. I got in extra early for work that day so I could buzz off after lunch to visit the pub and watch the game. My other Red-supporting friend was not so lucky, so he was reduced to watching it at his desk while we texted about the match. Since I can't write, I think our texts better capture what we went through. Some highlights:

(After Mickey Ryan's goal)Friend: welp

(After Auba's goal)Friend: WELPMe: already over <---I'm an idiot, by the way

(After Origi's goal)Friend: I LOVE DIVOCK ORIGIMe: BOOMFriend: SO STRONG SO FAST SO CLINICALMe: (Sends picture of Football Without Origi is Nothing banner)

(After Reus's goal)Me: Now that's game over <---Shut up, you imbecile Friend: DIVOCK CAN DO IT

(Full time whistle blows)Friend: YEESDDSSFriend: BEST GAME EVERMe: I LOVE WERYTHINGFriend: THE MAGIC OF THE KLOPPMe: I WOULD KISS YOU IF I SAW YOU RIGHT NOW NOT WVEN KIDDINGFriend: GLAD YOU DONT SEE ME

-------------------------------------------I know showing some parts of a text conversation doesn't hold a candle to some of the summations of the match in this thread. There are some truly gifted writers on this site. But as a 25 year old and someone who's been a fan of the Reds since only 2010, I've only heard and read and watched Youtube highlights of THOSE games that go down in Anfield folklore. Now I've got my first as a fan, and hopefully it's the first of many. I wasn't at Anfield on Thursday but I felt as close as I ever have to being there. I could only watch and listen through a TV, but the sound emanating from the ground was like one giant Scouse freight train, and it was incredible.

And despite all that and as you can see, I doubted the Reds when I shouldn't have. Maybe it was all the coulda/woulda/shoulda's I've witnessed the last few years. The close calls and the almost's. Zenit. Crystal Palace. Beşiktaş. Chelsea. Man City and so on. Boy, did Thursday sure teach me a lesson in not giving up. Tra lalalala, up the Reds.

Just one thing to add - it's okay to admit the manager got it wrong. (just like Rafa got it wrong in his set up in Istanbul!!) I'm not buying the '14' man game thing..and that this was all tactically fine idea

Honestly I was mildly shocked when the starting XI came out that he'd gone with 2 in central midfield and an extra attacker for a combination of reasons. First we didn't have a good 2 - Milner has proved he's not suited in one as has Allen and Lucas is too slow to put into this game. Second we'd done a really good job at frustrating them with 3 in Dortmund. And third we didn't actually need to do much attacking if we didn't want to (remember we didn't need to score) - we certainly didn't have to start out flying at them. Thought he'd come out and set it up similar to Dortmund with Allen playing a bit higher than the other 2 and aim to keep it solid.

The way the team was set up at the start was a disaster zone especially in midfield - it wasn't just 'Dortmund are that good' (though they are especially on the counter) and I'm not having that it might have happened anyway... okay it might but if you watch the first half this wasn't a function of just being a poorer team. Time and again the full backs and Milner had vacated and Can was left isolated and time and again Dortmund would play one pass and be in behind our midfield 2. I was also amazed we didn't change it properly until after Dortmund's 3rd

Of course the flip side to this is that terrible beginning allowed us to have one of the greatest comebacks in our history so you'll take it!As Napolean said 'I'd rather have a lucky general than a good general' and whenever you come back from 0-2 and 1-3 down to win you've gotten out of jail!!!

So yeah I don't think it was Klopp's best night's work but overall it's testament to the attitude he's brought out in these playersIt's been a 'good group' for a while , even in the dark days of the end of Rodgers management apart from the obvious exceptions most of the players have always seemed to have a lot of desire and work ethic; Klopp is clearly turning that into an awesome collective and a real determination not to get beat

Lovely post Albie lad - I particularly love the 'steeped in history/tradition' hypothesis with which i agree - and indeed, great stuff from everyone [including our resident poets and text gatherers ].

I think it's only right that this thread should remain alive for as long as possible with contributions from as many folks as possible. Such occasions don't come along every week and when they do we should recognize it and mark it with posts that attempt to encapsulate our joy and emotion. The content doesn't really matter as long as the emotion can be shared.

Got to say Albie whilst I bathed in the glow of the latter part of your post, your initial disappointment in the early part of your post [tying in with the early part of the evening] did surprise me. On the telly I thought the crowd came across really well and re-watching the whole thing again on LFCtv seems to confirm that. There scarcely seemed to be a flat spot during the opening half and the YNWA was as good as I've ever heard it. But I guess mikes like cameras can lie. Also, having been on Anny Road for the welcome it really does surprise me if that fervour - which was truly something really special - wasn't transported into the ground. I've obviously had a few first hand reports since the game from those who were inside but we've obviously only talked about the second half.

Yorkie, just one thing, Lambert was great for Bruges, but Cools destroyed Neal in that first half. I wrote about that game in another thread a few days ago, prior to the match on Thursday, and watching the conductor on the megaphone and hearing the BVB fans singing along made me think back to that post. Anfield is at its most frightening for the opposition when it's not singing. It's that feral roar, 40,000 unintelligible voices all urging the team on with a "fugginggerrintotheseehReds" or similar shout, that blends into a wall of snarling ear-splitting noise. The referee has to make a decision - those voices shout "Corner" as one, the players have 40,000 watching their backs with a shout of "Man-on". They are all watching the game but also taking part. The opposition start to wonder what hell is going on because their fans all sing along to a microphone whilst ours are watching the game like hawks, ready to argue every tackle and kick. Their will to win is shredded because ours is greater, carrying the players into tackles and urging them to go in harder.

Herr Klopp called it; our expectation is born of experience, we believe it can be done because we have seen it done so many times before. Having said that, it is certainly up there as one the best ever, and in time some other auld arse 40 years from now will be writing that "yeah last night was good but you should have been there against Dortmund in 2016"

You've got to understand I was expecting Chelsea 2005 or at least the Arsenal semi a few years later. YNWA was exceptional but we couldn't keep the intensity up to that level where it's not just the Kop singing but all 4 sides of the ground. Don't get me wrong it was good but as I surveyed my fellow Main Standers and I am nearer the Dortmund fans I was disappointed they didn't drown them out and dispirit them. Probably over critical but how subjectively I felt. However the intensity and noise of the second half was as good as anything I've experienced. Everyone threw themselves into it and we were one

Comparing halves with halves, Chelsea 1st half was undoubtedly better than last Thursday 1st half. But the Chelsea game had 3 crucial things in its favour...a hated opposition team/manager/fans, a European Cup Final at stake, and a Liverpool goal at the Kop end......all versus a respected team team/manager/fans, a UEFA cup semi at stake, and two opposition goals hitting the back of the Kop net.

What was at stake (I.e. type of cup and round) was of very little importance in all reality, something that sets us apart for starters (Europe's Europe and long may that be the case), but the other two factors undoubtedly played a part....in the first half.

For me though, overall, Thursday matched anything I've experienced. I say matched because it's hard to choose one over the others. And as one of the 23,000 drowned rats who steamed and bounced their way through the Auxerre game on the Kop (as opposed to one of the 50,000 who have since claimed they were there ), I'll include that one in the pantheon of the highest order nights that could easily be listed as Inter, St.Etienne, Auxerre, Chelsea and now Dortmund (easily only because I've just listed them!).

We'll all have our favourites, and the great thing is someone else could name their own top 5 and nobody could argue....we've got that many to choose from. I wasn't even born when we played Inter....but, well, that footage of the cup going round sends shivers, can only imagine how good that was when added to what followed, so it's in my list. St.Etienne was St.Etienne. And I like to think the 'we shall not be moved' on Thursday was a tip of the hat to the legend of Davy Fairclough and that cacophonous (great word, only invented after the St.Etienne game) night that had Barry Davies struggling to make himself heard over the din. Chelsea needs no explanation and nor does Thursday, second half

I'll probably get stick for this, and I've written it a couple of times and deleted it because it sounds so daft, and I don't even know why I'm admitting it now, but fuck it. Something strange happened to me on Thursday (something that has never happened to me before, being a natural pessimist and general shithouse when it comes to the big games, the huge ones, like Thursday). I felt so certain that we'd win that I was smiling to myself, even at 0-2 and 1-3. I was smiling because I just had a feeling it was going to be one of those nights. No idea why, and I know there'll be some now going 'get out of it'...but hand on heart I stood there at 1-3 and thought we'll win this. Ridicule away

Can we talk about how often we are scoring from crosses and set pieces? Ironically (?) without Benteke being on the pitch or in the squad?

Sturridge has scored two headers in two league games. Origi has scored a couple of headers over the past few games as well, and had a few more headed chances. Then of course there are the Sakho and Lovren goals.

It goes to show:

1. Scoring headers and from crosses is not all about having a big target to hit like Benteke. It's about good movement into space to create the chance. 2. We are, possibly, also getting better at crosses and set pieces.3. We may be moving towards a mode of attack where we will use width and cross more often than we have in the recent past.

Can we talk about how often we are scoring from crosses and set pieces? Ironically (?) without Benteke being on the pitch or in the squad?

Sturridge has scored two headers in two league games. Origi has scored a couple of headers over the past few games as well, and had a few more headed chances. Then of course there are the Sakho and Lovren goals.

It goes to show:

1. Scoring headers and from crosses is not all about having a big target to hit like Benteke. It's about good movement into space to create the chance. 2. We are, possibly, also getting better at crosses and set pieces.3. We may be moving towards a mode of attack where we will use width and cross more often than we have in the recent past.

Precisely. Look how many goals we scored from set pieces in 2014/2015. Although Gerrard was brilliant on still-ball duties, it was ultimately due to the movement of Suarez and Sturridge. Most of Skrtel's goals were down to the intelligent movement of our front two.

Back to the present. What a opening post it was from Yorky. Thanks for letting me post it on my blog, mate.

Remember when Klopp said when he came in about heads dropping from the players and the supporters when we concede a goal, or start losing, how it felt in the atmosphere that was that, there's no hope. Remember his reaction at the end when we got the late equalizer against West Brom? And why that was so important.

Well after all those months, this was the real big reason why changing that attitude was so important. Because 6 months ago this wouldn't have been possible. Yes, we as a club have had nights like this before, comebacks and results against all odds. But our players six months ago didn't have the belief they needed to get this done.

Huge credit goes to Klopp for being patient and for getting that out of the lads, and out of the fans as well.

Joe Allen, like Lovren and Origi, our massive turn-around players under Klopp. All three should have a future at Anfield.

Allen for me though changed not just this game, but the first leg as well. We looked a far better team in both second half's when he was on the pitch. I champion the belief that we win and lose as a team, but for this tie, we owe a lot to the little Lad from the Valleys.